© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

A Paterson River incident: when the Guthrey ran aground.

For a number of years early last century, riverboat excursions from Newcastle Harbour to destinations such as Hinton, Seaham and Paterson were popular. Steamboats of various shapes and sizes (including at least one retired Sydney Harbour ferry) took hundreds of passengers at a time on picnics, hikes and cruises. One of the boats was the Guthrey, (referred to as a "funny" vessel in this post: https://www.phototimetunnel.com/the-german-sailor-the-tailors-daughter-and-the-tragic-white-wife-of-otterswick The Guthrey on Newcastle Harbour, circa 1910. Courtesy Bill Ruddick. The Guthrey on Newcastle Harbour, circa 1910. The Guthrey (left) and the Shamrock at Newcastle, circa 1910. The day after…

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Read more about the article The German sailor, the tailor’s daughter and the tragic White Wife of Otterswick
The Bertha in full sail. Postcard by Hood, Sydney.

The German sailor, the tailor’s daughter and the tragic White Wife of Otterswick

MAYBE young German sailor Adolf Nordman dreamed of being more than friends with Nellie Shephard, the tailor's pretty young daughter whom he met in the port of Newcastle, NSW, in 1909. His postcards, written in the years before the outbreak of World War I, hint that way. If so, his hopes were unrequited. Nellie became the wife of an Australian artillery officer who fought against Adolf's countrymen in the war, and Adolf's lovely ship, the Bertha, met a terrible end in the Shetland Islands in 1924, where her figurehead now stands on the shore, looking out to sea, and where the local islanders call her the Wooden Wife,…

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Memories of Rhondda Colliery

Ernie Eade started work at Rhondda Colliery, Teralba, on January 27, 1927 at the age of 14. He was paid six shillings and sixpence a day, a rate that increased each year by one shilling and ten pence until he reached the adult rate of 17 shillings and sixpence. He worked from 7am to 3pm with a half hour break from 11am. Ernie Eade in December 1930. Photo courtesy of Alan Mitchell. At that time Rhondda was owned by William Laidley and Co, along with the Co-operative mine at Wallsend. The company’s chief clerk came to…

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